Stranger
by Ink Dinkedink
Summary: Once, you were my friend. Now you're a stranger I no longer want to be associated with.


Guildwars © NCSoft/Arenanet  
Story written by "Favri the Fisher".

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I've known you since you were a little girl. You were ten when we met. I myself was twenty that day, a novice of the Ascalon Academy. Maybe you didn't know, but I was out behind the wall to prove my worth as an elementalist. Master Howland sent me to get rid of some monsters that plagued the river and scared peasants. You, you were there because you lost your flute.

I remember when you stood there by the road and looked worriedly across the river, where those water monsters lurked. You didn't dare to cross, and I could understand that. You ran to me when I approach the river, and you asked me to find your flute. My companion thought we'd let you be. She said we had other things to care about. But I looked you in the eyes, and I saw that you truly pleaded me to bring your flute back. I said I'd try, but I didn't dare to make any promises.

My warrior friend found it when she killed the river beasts' queen. I took the flute and returned it to you. It was broken, gnawed into pieces by the monsters. You looked so disappointed that neither I nor my friend knew what to say. But when I promised you a new flute, you lit up and smiled again.

You asked if I was a hero like Aidan and Devona, if I was out on some big adventure, if you could follow me. My companion teased me several hours for that – if you only know what a weakling for elementalist I was that day. I'd never ever dreamt of that one day I'd be one of the few survivors of the Ascalonian Army. Little did I think that one day every adventurer would know my name, and that my adventures would be sung by bards in all of Tyria. And least of all did I think I'd see you again.

You follow me. Your mother was glad that you had a friend. There weren't many children in town; your mother said you ran around in town because you wanted company.

Company. I wasn't very keen on babysitting you that day. My friend and I were busy tracking the Royalists, who tried to overthrow our king Adelbern during these wartimes. I said we'd go to Green Hills to gather information from Duke Barradin's men.

And you said you wanted to come along.

I was happy for your company. You were like a little angel. You were so carefree. You slept on my lap that night we had to stayed in the forest. My friend said I was silly and that I shouldn't have taken you with me. Maybe she was right, but I just couldn't say no to your request. You were like a little sister to me, I truly enjoyed those days we adventured. I know I'm not your brother – we're not even related, but I still wanted to pretend, because it felt good to have you with me.

You father disappeared in the war when you were seven. The war claimed my father's life as well. He fell very soon after he headed out into the war against the beasts from north. The war had not ended yet.

You didn't seem too sad when you told me your father's fate. You said you'd see him again in the Underworld. You asked me were the Underworld was. I replied I didn't know, I didn't know if I should tell you. My friend however, said it was Grenth's Realm, the realm of the dead. You asked her all kinds of questions about the Underworld . Finally, not even my friend had enough imagination to answer and said one could not know until one had been there. Then you asked her if she could take you there for a visit. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry then.

You were so open and talkative. You always had something to tell. My friend and I had had a such gloomy atmosphere since our missions. It was you who lightened up the mood with your little stories. My companion had been with me for month, but she'd barely made me smile. But you, you could make me laugh and cry.

You fell ill that day we wandered back from Foible's Fair in rain. I was worried. We rushed you to Ashford Abbey, and there Brother Mhenlo helped you to recover.

I was afraid you'd fall ill again so I bought you a cloak. My friend said I was crazy, since she only saw the price for the fabric. You were delighted when I gave it to you, and I was happy because you were happy.

We were away at Fort Ranik and met that woman Mary. Her orchard was attacked by giant spiders. She asked me and my comrade to pick up her apples. She nicked one and another fruit. I didn't say anything, but my friend did. She stared at you with an angry glare, and asked you if you had manners at all. I said I'd pay for what you stole, but Mary only laughed. She said you could take a few more if you wanted. You smiled then and seized another two apples.

Did you know there was something I didn't tell you at Fort Ranik?

I sighed up as volunteer for the war. I was reunited with many of my old friends in Fort Ranik. They were about to head up to the warfront at the Great Northern Wall. Many of them are dead now, they fell in the war. The war. The war craved new lives every day. Every day we heard new of how those beasts came nearer and nearer the wall. Now they stood outside our gates.

You didn't care about the war. You probably didn't know much about the war. You told us the rumours of Prince Rurik and Lady Althea's wedding. You told us about Old Mack and his mad bull. You told us you wanted to be a hero like your father when you grew up. You said you wanted to be a warrior, but that you thought the mesmers in the academy had prettier clothes.

I liked you as a troubadour better, you liked to play music and tell stories so much.

When we returned to town, I said it was time to say goodbye. You flung yourself into my arms and held me. I smiled faintly and hugged you in return. Then you took out an old tapestry shred and gave it to me. It wasn't pretty, but it was I did see the picture of a warrior riding a horse. That moment I received it, I chuckled, while I thought "What use can I have for this?" Little did I think of that this would be the last time I'd see you as a carefree little girl. You said I was your best friend. You said I was like a big brother to you. I was happy you wanted to be my little sister.

The following evening I reported to Sir Tydus. He said he'd heard much of me and my friend from Duke Barradin, and many more. Secretly, he whispered that I wouldn't go to the front – I would, together with the best of Ascalon, go and kill a group of Charr that had managed to get behind the The Great Northern Wall and were hiding outside the city. My friend and I got the honour to meet Prince Rurik. And together we headed out behind the city wall where that group of Charr was said to be hiding. We killed them, but it was already too late.

We watched when our beloved city fell. It was then the Searing came.

I remained out there in the war for two years. I saw comrades fall in the battles against the Charr. I saw people flee from their ruined homes. I saw famine and death. I saw a destroyed kingdom.

Nothing grew. The fire of the Charr had ruined all our landscape. And we fought a lost battle. In the ruins of Rin, Prince Rurik made the decision to leave Ascalon. He took with him everyone who wanted to follow. He promised a new home – a new life – in Kryta. I had followed the prince during these years, and I followed him over the Shieverpeaks. I was there when he fell in Dagnar Stonepate's trap. I couldn't have done anything to save him, and he knew that. He commanded me to flee, and I did – the people of Ascalon's fate were more important than his life.

My adventures did not end in Kryta though. I've been through so much more, you know. I did what I could to give the people of Ascalon better days. I fought both Mursaat and titans. I was up in the frozen mountains and helped the Deldrimor dwarves in their battles against the dangerous Stone Summit. I was beyond the seas in foreign continents. I overthrew a mad ruler of Elona. I aided the Goddes of Truth in her war against Abbadon. I was even down in the Underworld in Grenth's service, and there I met your mother, Sarah.

She recognized my face. She recognized the young man who took care of her daughter. She asked for you, asked if I had seen you. I couldn't give her any answer, as I never saw you again in Ascalon. You could be dead, you could be anywhere in the world. When those terrible Charr invaded, every city in the Ascalonian Kingdom burned. The day I found the pieces of the flute I gave you in the battlefield I was already prepared for the worst.

Now I stand here in the Hall of Monuments, before this young woman, who I once knew as the girl with the flute.

Once, I believed we could still understand each other. I believed we could still be friends. We had lost what we held dear. We are both victims to this cold-blooded war. But I don't understand you anymore.

I asked my friend what she thought of you. She said you were just the way you were for eight years ago, an annoying little girl who followed us everywhere we went. However, you had stopped skipping around and play butterfly. Instead, you're a bloodthirsty magician, who only thinks of slaying more Charr.

Look at us! Look at me! Do you see who we are? Do you see who I am?

Here, take this piece of fabric. Look at it! Does it look familiar? Do you understand now? This is the tapestry shred you gave me before we went out to war! Do you see who we are now? Do you see who I am now?

You met us outside the Eye of the North when we came. You didn't recognize us back then. Maybe you even already have forgotten about us, forgotten about me. My friend had thought you were strange that evening we were reunited. I could understand that, after everything you'd been through – the war and Ascalon's tragic fate have changed all of us. The years have been harsh, both for you and for us. I'm no longer the silly apprentice from the Ascalonian Academy. She's no longer the happy-go-lucky warrior who helps farmers with trivial tasks. And you, you're no longer the girl with the flute.

The war did more damage to your soul than we expected. And we saw that during the adventure together in the North. We tried to help you, tried to talk to you, tried to mend your wounds. But you refused to listen and pushed us away with your anger. Your anger, your hate, have made you blind. Everything you see is vengeance. You burn for getting back at the Charr – not for Ascalon's future. You're stuck in your past and can't move on.

I don't see your happy smile anymore – not even when we just rescued your Captain Langmar. Neither do I see you play the flute anymore. Is there _anything_ the war couldn't take away from you, except for your name?

You're cold.

You're bitter.

You're dangerous.

You're alive, yet dead.

You scare me.

You're not you. There's not anything left of the little girl once learnt to know and like.

You're a cruel woman who only live for revenge. Vengeance and Charr-slaying, that's all you can think of.

I don't understand you anymore.

I don't know you anymore.

Once, you were a friend, a sister.

Today you're a stranger I no longer want to be associated with.

Farewell, Gwen.

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Thanks for reading.


End file.
